I chose photography over writing. I had to make a living.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When I was a teenager, I loved photography and writing.
I was really into writing short fiction and also photography when I was a kid.
But I was, and still am, an avid reader and so when I first started I chose to photograph many of the great writers in this country to try and earn a living.
Aside from my modelling, by the early Nineties I was also starting to work as a photographer, which I loved.
Photography was a blessing because it filled my time.
I wanted to be a scientist. I did a thesis on lions. But I realised photography can show things writing can't. Lions were my professor of photography.
I used to split my time between writing, music and painting. I would work on a book and then abandon it, start a band, do an album, quit music, then do a gallery show. Eventually I decided to give writing a serious shot.
! discovered photography completely by chance. My wife is an architect; when we were young and living in Paris, she bought a camera to take pictures of buildings. For the first time, I looked through a lens - and photography immediately started to invade my life.
I opted for a freelance writing career. I was lucky enough to have the means to do it.
Writing is my profession. Photography is my hobby.